If there was ever a time this century that the Yankees needed the calendar to flip to a recent yr to further rinse off the stench of a season, it’s now.
Ringing in 2024 on Sunday night into Monday morning will bring recent hope for a recent season, even when the Yankees’ offseason still feels very much incomplete. They took a powerful first step by trading for Juan Soto, but still need to fill at the least one hole of their rotation (created by that trade) after missing out on Yoshinobu Yamamoto, plus probably add one other starter for depth.
With that in mind, listed here are a handful of Recent 12 months’s resolutions for the Yankees:
Anthony Volpe: Get back to using all fields
When Volpe was tearing through the minor leagues as a top prospect, he was using all fields on the plate. Too often in his rookie yr, he got away from that approach, whether it was subconsciously or not. By the tip of the yr, he had pulled 46.7 percent of his batted balls, per Baseball Savant, which ranked thirteenth amongst qualified hitters.
The Yankees are banking on Volpe being higher in the long term because they allowed him to take his lumps for a full first season in the large leagues. Opposing pitchers were capable of expose some areas of weakness — the breaking ball low and away gave him loads of trouble — but Volpe now has all of that information to make adjustments heading into his sophomore season.
If the 22-year-old shortstop can take a leap and construct off his 20/20, Gold Glove campaign in 2023, it’ll be an enormous boost to the Yankees.
“Just the all-around consistency [is the next step],” manager Aaron Boone said on the winter meetings. “I do feel like in his DNA is a man that has a likelihood to actually control the strike zone. And that’s an area where he’s got to enhance, and I believe will proceed to enhance. And I believe after we look up, hopefully we see those improvements this yr. But I believe whenever you look up years from now, he’s going to be a man that gets on base and has that ability combined with some power and clearly speed.
“I believe it’s just tightening up that strike zone discipline after which also having the ability to take away where teams found some holes and will exploit. And that’s all a part of being not only a young big leaguer, but an enormous leaguer. It’s a game of adjustments and having the ability to always do this as a hitter. I believe Anthony’s makeup, intelligence [and] ability will allow him to try this.”
Carlos Rodon and Nestor Cortes: Stay out of the trainer’s room
If Rodon and Cortes had pitched the best way they were able to in 2023, two things: the Yankees likely would have made the playoffs and missing out on Yamamoto probably wouldn’t have felt like such a letdown.
It was only a yr ago that the Yankees gave Rodon a six-year, $162 million contract to be a powerful No. 2 behind Gerrit Cole. And Cortes was coming off an All-Star season during which he actually looked the a part of a mid-rotation starter.
As a substitute, each lefties got hurt within the spring, essentially derailing each of their seasons.
Cortes strained his hamstring training for the WBC before he even arrived at spring training. He eventually made it back to start out the season on time, but never looked quite like himself after which strained his rotator cuff, which he later thought might need had something to do with attempting to compensate for his hamstring.
Rodon, meanwhile, suffered a forearm muscle strain in March, handled back issues during his rehab, didn’t pitch till July after which when he did pitch, was not very effective.
The Yankees were planning to remain on top of Rodon and Cortes this offseason in hopes that each would arrive in Tampa in higher shape this spring. Doing so might give them a greater likelihood to pitch like they did in 2021 and 2022.
Yankees: Don’t wait for a three-day meeting in Tampa to inform it prefer it is
Much was made concerning the club’s braintrust getting together in Tampa after the season to be brutally honest about where things went unsuitable in 2023. While the small print and takeaways of those meetings have been scarce, it shouldn’t have taken an 82-80 season for the team to take a tough take a look at itself and the way it will possibly recuperate.
That’s to not say those sorts of conversations — in a smaller form — don’t go on throughout the course of a season. However the Yankees shouldn’t be afraid to, as Hal Steinbrenner put it when describing the meetings, “challenge every part, all of our philosophies, all of our practices” and while doing so, “check your egos on the door.”
Boone, who’s entering the ultimate yr of his contract (with a club option for 2025), said there’ll likely be some things he does slightly in a different way next season, including “be[ing] slightly more hands-on in some certain situations.”
“But at the identical time, it’s really essential for me to empower my coaching staff to do their job, too,” Boone said. “And I don’t wish to micromanage those sort of things. But there are areas that I actually have my eye on that I’ll ensure I’m slightly more involved.”
One possible area is ensuring that his players are getting the analytical information they need and within the ways in which make essentially the most sense for them. Aaron Judge made clear at the tip of the season that the team could use some work on the way it is disseminating that data to its players.
“There’s some players that eat up information and might handle numerous information, and it goes a great distance in helping them change into the players they expect to be,” Boone said. “”Other guys, it’s like, get out of their way and allow them to go play.
“A part of our job as coaches, as a corporation, is to acknowledge that, and one in all the things is being higher at how we do disseminate things and ensure our guys are in one of the best position to exit and achieve success.”
Hal Steinbrenner and Brian Cashman: Don’t wait too long on a Stanton decision
The Yankees are confident Giancarlo Stanton is putting within the work this offseason to have a rebound yr in 2024. It’s absolutely possible that can come to fruition.
But when it doesn’t, the Yankees can have a tough decision to make. Stanton currently has 4 years left on his contract and $98 million owed to him by the Yankees. If the 34-year-old still looks just like the 2023 version of himself early in 2024, how long will the Yankees wait on him to show it around? When will the time come when the team decides it is healthier off just not having him take up a spot on the roster (and that likely means a release as a substitute of a trade, since Stanton owns a no-trade clause)?
The Yankees went through smaller examples of this in 2023 with Aaron Hicks (designated for task in May with three years and roughly $30 million left on his contract) and Josh Donaldson (released in August on a $21 million salary and a $6 million buyout this offseason).
Stanton still has time to alter his story and never fall into that category just yet. But it surely’s a situation that actually bears watching.
Cody Morris isn’t any stranger to the Yankees
The Yankees must have an excellent amount of familiarity with their newest pitcher, Cody Morris, who was acquired from the Guardians in exchange for Estevan Florial on Tuesday.
First off, Morris was rotation-mates with Clarke Schmidt on the University of South Carolina in 2017. Schmidt, then a junior, went 4-2 with a 1.34 ERA while Morris, then a freshman, went 2-3 with a 3.66 ERA.
More significant, though, is the reference to Matt Blake. The Yankees’ pitching coach was still Cleveland’s pitching coordinator when it drafted Morris in 2018 and the right-hander spent 2019 split between Low-A and High-A.
While not all of his projects have worked out, Blake does have an excellent variety of success stories in his time in The Bronx. If he can bring out one of the best in Morris — or at the least make him a useful piece of the puzzle — it’ll be a solid return for a player (Florial) who went unclaimed on waivers last April and had no foreseeable future as a Yankee.
Comeback story
How will you remember Isiah Kiner-Falefa, the Yankee?
Answers will vary, in fact, nevertheless it is difficult to recall many who were buried so far as IKF who then rose back to the surface.
It’s difficult to bounce back from poor performance in Recent York, where reputations are made quickly. Kiner-Falefa, who was brought in only before the 2022 season as a stop-gap shortstop, quickly represented one other Yankees mistake. He was never known for his bat and hit barely enough in 2022 (.642 OPS) to proceed cracking into lineups. His defense at shortstop was competent enough to carry the job through the regular season, but shaky enough to encourage anger from fans.
The fan base’s frustration grew and turned personal, one idiot sending Kiner-Falefa’s father a message on Twitter with a “joke” that his son had been shot dead. Kiner-Falefa was booed heartily, which is normally the purpose of no return. When the fans turned on players equivalent to Joey Gallo and Aaron Hicks, it became apparent that a rebound wouldn’t come. Boos can beget strikeouts. IKF was benched for many of the 2022 postseason, which seemed to be the tip of his Yankees story.
And yet, he rebounded. Kiner-Falefa could see that he would lose the shortstop battle to Anthony Volpe or Oswald Peraza last spring training, so he volunteered to try a super-utility role that he mastered. The Hawaiian played every position except catcher and first base last season, shining especially in center field. He hit higher (.646 OPS) and was a relatively interesting at-bat in a lineup full of slumps and strikeouts.
With a lesser role and managed expectations, Kiner-Falefa actually became pretty well-liked throughout the fan base.
An absolute roller-coaster of a two-season tenure ended this week, when Kiner-Falefa agreed to a two-year, $15 million pact with the Blue Jays that can keep him within the AL East.
How will Yankees fans greet him April 5-7, when the Blue Jays visit The Bronx for the primary time? Perhaps not with the love that many former Yankees receive, but additionally not with the hate that IKF already has experienced plenty.
— Mark Sanchez
If there was ever a time this century that the Yankees needed the calendar to flip to a recent yr to further rinse off the stench of a season, it’s now.
Ringing in 2024 on Sunday night into Monday morning will bring recent hope for a recent season, even when the Yankees’ offseason still feels very much incomplete. They took a powerful first step by trading for Juan Soto, but still need to fill at the least one hole of their rotation (created by that trade) after missing out on Yoshinobu Yamamoto, plus probably add one other starter for depth.
With that in mind, listed here are a handful of Recent 12 months’s resolutions for the Yankees:
Anthony Volpe: Get back to using all fields
When Volpe was tearing through the minor leagues as a top prospect, he was using all fields on the plate. Too often in his rookie yr, he got away from that approach, whether it was subconsciously or not. By the tip of the yr, he had pulled 46.7 percent of his batted balls, per Baseball Savant, which ranked thirteenth amongst qualified hitters.
The Yankees are banking on Volpe being higher in the long term because they allowed him to take his lumps for a full first season in the large leagues. Opposing pitchers were capable of expose some areas of weakness — the breaking ball low and away gave him loads of trouble — but Volpe now has all of that information to make adjustments heading into his sophomore season.
If the 22-year-old shortstop can take a leap and construct off his 20/20, Gold Glove campaign in 2023, it’ll be an enormous boost to the Yankees.
“Just the all-around consistency [is the next step],” manager Aaron Boone said on the winter meetings. “I do feel like in his DNA is a man that has a likelihood to actually control the strike zone. And that’s an area where he’s got to enhance, and I believe will proceed to enhance. And I believe after we look up, hopefully we see those improvements this yr. But I believe whenever you look up years from now, he’s going to be a man that gets on base and has that ability combined with some power and clearly speed.
“I believe it’s just tightening up that strike zone discipline after which also having the ability to take away where teams found some holes and will exploit. And that’s all a part of being not only a young big leaguer, but an enormous leaguer. It’s a game of adjustments and having the ability to always do this as a hitter. I believe Anthony’s makeup, intelligence [and] ability will allow him to try this.”
Carlos Rodon and Nestor Cortes: Stay out of the trainer’s room
If Rodon and Cortes had pitched the best way they were able to in 2023, two things: the Yankees likely would have made the playoffs and missing out on Yamamoto probably wouldn’t have felt like such a letdown.
It was only a yr ago that the Yankees gave Rodon a six-year, $162 million contract to be a powerful No. 2 behind Gerrit Cole. And Cortes was coming off an All-Star season during which he actually looked the a part of a mid-rotation starter.
As a substitute, each lefties got hurt within the spring, essentially derailing each of their seasons.
Cortes strained his hamstring training for the WBC before he even arrived at spring training. He eventually made it back to start out the season on time, but never looked quite like himself after which strained his rotator cuff, which he later thought might need had something to do with attempting to compensate for his hamstring.
Rodon, meanwhile, suffered a forearm muscle strain in March, handled back issues during his rehab, didn’t pitch till July after which when he did pitch, was not very effective.
The Yankees were planning to remain on top of Rodon and Cortes this offseason in hopes that each would arrive in Tampa in higher shape this spring. Doing so might give them a greater likelihood to pitch like they did in 2021 and 2022.
Yankees: Don’t wait for a three-day meeting in Tampa to inform it prefer it is
Much was made concerning the club’s braintrust getting together in Tampa after the season to be brutally honest about where things went unsuitable in 2023. While the small print and takeaways of those meetings have been scarce, it shouldn’t have taken an 82-80 season for the team to take a tough take a look at itself and the way it will possibly recuperate.
That’s to not say those sorts of conversations — in a smaller form — don’t go on throughout the course of a season. However the Yankees shouldn’t be afraid to, as Hal Steinbrenner put it when describing the meetings, “challenge every part, all of our philosophies, all of our practices” and while doing so, “check your egos on the door.”
Boone, who’s entering the ultimate yr of his contract (with a club option for 2025), said there’ll likely be some things he does slightly in a different way next season, including “be[ing] slightly more hands-on in some certain situations.”
“But at the identical time, it’s really essential for me to empower my coaching staff to do their job, too,” Boone said. “And I don’t wish to micromanage those sort of things. But there are areas that I actually have my eye on that I’ll ensure I’m slightly more involved.”
One possible area is ensuring that his players are getting the analytical information they need and within the ways in which make essentially the most sense for them. Aaron Judge made clear at the tip of the season that the team could use some work on the way it is disseminating that data to its players.
“There’s some players that eat up information and might handle numerous information, and it goes a great distance in helping them change into the players they expect to be,” Boone said. “”Other guys, it’s like, get out of their way and allow them to go play.
“A part of our job as coaches, as a corporation, is to acknowledge that, and one in all the things is being higher at how we do disseminate things and ensure our guys are in one of the best position to exit and achieve success.”
Hal Steinbrenner and Brian Cashman: Don’t wait too long on a Stanton decision
The Yankees are confident Giancarlo Stanton is putting within the work this offseason to have a rebound yr in 2024. It’s absolutely possible that can come to fruition.
But when it doesn’t, the Yankees can have a tough decision to make. Stanton currently has 4 years left on his contract and $98 million owed to him by the Yankees. If the 34-year-old still looks just like the 2023 version of himself early in 2024, how long will the Yankees wait on him to show it around? When will the time come when the team decides it is healthier off just not having him take up a spot on the roster (and that likely means a release as a substitute of a trade, since Stanton owns a no-trade clause)?
The Yankees went through smaller examples of this in 2023 with Aaron Hicks (designated for task in May with three years and roughly $30 million left on his contract) and Josh Donaldson (released in August on a $21 million salary and a $6 million buyout this offseason).
Stanton still has time to alter his story and never fall into that category just yet. But it surely’s a situation that actually bears watching.
Cody Morris isn’t any stranger to the Yankees
The Yankees must have an excellent amount of familiarity with their newest pitcher, Cody Morris, who was acquired from the Guardians in exchange for Estevan Florial on Tuesday.
First off, Morris was rotation-mates with Clarke Schmidt on the University of South Carolina in 2017. Schmidt, then a junior, went 4-2 with a 1.34 ERA while Morris, then a freshman, went 2-3 with a 3.66 ERA.
More significant, though, is the reference to Matt Blake. The Yankees’ pitching coach was still Cleveland’s pitching coordinator when it drafted Morris in 2018 and the right-hander spent 2019 split between Low-A and High-A.
While not all of his projects have worked out, Blake does have an excellent variety of success stories in his time in The Bronx. If he can bring out one of the best in Morris — or at the least make him a useful piece of the puzzle — it’ll be a solid return for a player (Florial) who went unclaimed on waivers last April and had no foreseeable future as a Yankee.
Comeback story
How will you remember Isiah Kiner-Falefa, the Yankee?
Answers will vary, in fact, nevertheless it is difficult to recall many who were buried so far as IKF who then rose back to the surface.
It’s difficult to bounce back from poor performance in Recent York, where reputations are made quickly. Kiner-Falefa, who was brought in only before the 2022 season as a stop-gap shortstop, quickly represented one other Yankees mistake. He was never known for his bat and hit barely enough in 2022 (.642 OPS) to proceed cracking into lineups. His defense at shortstop was competent enough to carry the job through the regular season, but shaky enough to encourage anger from fans.
The fan base’s frustration grew and turned personal, one idiot sending Kiner-Falefa’s father a message on Twitter with a “joke” that his son had been shot dead. Kiner-Falefa was booed heartily, which is normally the purpose of no return. When the fans turned on players equivalent to Joey Gallo and Aaron Hicks, it became apparent that a rebound wouldn’t come. Boos can beget strikeouts. IKF was benched for many of the 2022 postseason, which seemed to be the tip of his Yankees story.
And yet, he rebounded. Kiner-Falefa could see that he would lose the shortstop battle to Anthony Volpe or Oswald Peraza last spring training, so he volunteered to try a super-utility role that he mastered. The Hawaiian played every position except catcher and first base last season, shining especially in center field. He hit higher (.646 OPS) and was a relatively interesting at-bat in a lineup full of slumps and strikeouts.
With a lesser role and managed expectations, Kiner-Falefa actually became pretty well-liked throughout the fan base.
An absolute roller-coaster of a two-season tenure ended this week, when Kiner-Falefa agreed to a two-year, $15 million pact with the Blue Jays that can keep him within the AL East.
How will Yankees fans greet him April 5-7, when the Blue Jays visit The Bronx for the primary time? Perhaps not with the love that many former Yankees receive, but additionally not with the hate that IKF already has experienced plenty.
— Mark Sanchez
